<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>the cold wind blows and you fix my scattering hair by sirensokka</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29185824">the cold wind blows and you fix my scattering hair</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirensokka/pseuds/sirensokka'>sirensokka</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>winter atla femslash week 2021 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Hair Braiding, Pining, The Fire Nation's attitude towards hair</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:49:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29185824</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirensokka/pseuds/sirensokka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>ty lee wants help with her braid and mai is happy to oblige.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>winter atla femslash week 2021 [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137914</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Winter ATLA Femslash Week 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the cold wind blows and you fix my scattering hair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>there is no cold wind blowing and there is no scattering hair. just go with it.</p><p>title from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcWRglxZ2U0">time to love</a> by red velvet</p><p>written for winter atla femslash week, day 3: hair braiding/pining</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Can you help me with my braid?” Ty Lee chirps, plopping down next to Mai.</p><p>Mai blinks, taking in the sight of Ty Lee with her hair down. She’s still tied her hair into a ponytail, but the full waves that cascade down her back are something she’s never really seen before. “Why?”</p><p>Ty Lee shrugs, twirling her hair tie around. “I went to bed really late last night. I’m just too tired.”</p><p>Mai stares at her for a second. She hesitates for a moment, Fire Nation etiquette still drilled into her. Somewhere in her mind, she’s internalized that hair-touching was strictly prohibited, and only her mother and a maid had ever laid a hand on her scalp. Ty Lee had never really cared about that - she’d asked Mai plenty of times to help her, and Mai had always refused.</p><p>But they’re not in the Fire Nation anymore. They’re in the Earth Kingdom, where that kind of thing doesn’t matter, where nobody knows them, where there would be no shame or scandal in touching another girl’s hair.</p><p><em> Keep out of trouble</em>, her mother would say. <em> Think of your father. Just sit, be quiet, and mind your manners </em>.</p><p>Mai makes her choice.</p><p>“Whatever,” she mutters, extending her hand for the hair tie.</p><p>Ty Lee perks up, her eyes alight with satisfaction. “Thanks!” she says eagerly, dropping her hair tie into Mai’s hands and turning around.</p><p>Suddenly unsure of herself, Mai gently parts Ty Lee’s hair into three parts, marveling in the softness of it. Her own hair always feels sleek, a distinctly different texture from soft, and she finds that she never wants to take her fingers out of Ty Lee’s hair.</p><p>This is the first time she’s touching another person’s hair, she realizes suddenly. She almost feels an imbalance for a moment. She’d been doing her own hair for most of her life, sick of hearing her mother scold her for still needing a maid, and nobody had touched her hair ever since. She wonders what it would feel like for Ty Lee to take her hair into her hands, twisting and pinning them into Mai’s familiar buns, or maybe twisting the strands into a braid, or maybe-</p><p>“You okay back there?” Ty Lee calls.</p><p>Mai blinks, jerking back into the present. She hasn’t started braiding yet, and she must look foolish staring into nothing while holding Ty Lee’s hair. For a moment, she considers telling her that she doesn’t actually really know how to braid hair. She’s never had a reason to learn any hairstyle other than her buns, and now she wishes she’d picked up on more.</p><p>But she doesn’t want to let this opportunity go. She can’t, not now, so she sucks it up instead. Mai hates the blush that rises on her cheeks as she says a quick “sorry” and gets to work.</p><p>She relies on memory from watching Ty Lee work her own hair into a braid. It’s annoyingly difficult, she finds, but she holds back from tugging on the strands in frustration out of fear of hurting Ty Lee. She fumbles her way down, her fingers uncharacteristically unsure as they lock Ty Lee’s hair into a dreadfully loose-looking braid. It’s the shame of Mai’s life.</p><p>“I’m done,” she announces, tying up the ends of the braid and letting it flop onto Ty Lee’s back.</p><p>Ty Lee turns around to face her, and Mai keeps her face carefully neutral. They’re on the same level but Ty Lee feels impossibly giant around her right now, her eyes the ultimate judge as her hand reaches back to pat the braid.</p><p>“It’s a little loose,” Ty Lee says, a small frown appearing between her eyebrows, and Mai wants to march straight back into the Fire Nation and demand that a maid teach her how to braid hair. “But it’s okay! You’ll get better.”</p><p>Mai stares at her. “How?”</p><p>“Well,” Ty Lee starts, “I could teach you. It’s really easy!”</p><p>Mai thinks for a moment. On one hand, learning how to braid hair meant that she’d be able to braid Ty Lee’s hair and feel the softness of it between her fingers again. </p><p>On the other hand, learning how to braid hair meant that she’d be able to braid Ty Lee’s hair and feel the softness of it between her fingers again.</p><p>She can’t explain the urge to touch Ty Lee’s hair right away. Maybe it’s just the foreign element of it, the thrill of doing something that would mark her as an outcast in the Fire Nation. <em> The most rebellious thing I’ve done is touch another girl’s hair </em> , Mai muses. <em> I should get out more often </em>.</p><p>“Maybe later,” Mai settles on. “Once we’re done here.”</p><p>Ty Lee smiles. “Pinky promise?”</p><p>Mai snorts. “You only like saying that because your aura is pink.”</p><p>“Would you rather I say grey-ish promise with you?”</p><p>“I don’t believe in auras,” Mai says. “Do whatever makes you happy.”</p><p>“It would make me happy if you believed in auras,” Ty Lee teases.</p><p>Mai resists the urge to roll her eyes. “Just give me your pinky,” she says instead, extending her finger toward Ty Lee.</p><p>Ty Lee grins and locks her pinky with Mai’s. “You’re honor-bound now,” she says, faux-seriously. “I’m teaching you how to braid hair as soon as we’re back in the Fire Nation.”</p><p>“Oh, no, my honor,” Mai deadpans, feeling a wave of pride wash over her as Ty Lee giggles.</p><p>“Do you want me to do your hair now?”</p><p>There are rumors that Ty Lee is descended from the Air Nomads, and with the way the air leaves Mai’s lungs she thinks that Ty Lee must be a secret airbender. Her heart picks up as she considers her options. Letting Ty Lee touch her hair feels too personal, too vulnerable, which probably makes her extremely hypocritical, but she’s never claimed to be otherwise.</p><p>Mai shifts slightly. “No one’s touched my hair before,” she admits.</p><p>Understanding settles in Ty Lee’s eyes. “I know what it’s like back home,” she says. “It wasn’t a big deal in the circus, so I guess I forgot for a minute.”</p><p>Irrational jealousy hits Mai at the thought of other people touching Ty Lee’s hair. “It’s fine,” she says, ignoring the flicker of confusion that passes across Ty Lee’s face. “Mine is just hard to do.”</p><p>“That didn’t stop you from braiding my hair.”</p><p>“That’s fair,” Mai concedes. “But still.”</p><p>Ty Lee shrugs. “Maybe you can teach me too, then,” she suggests.</p><p>“Maybe,” Mai repeats, and it feels like a promise.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hammered this out during a meeting because i felt bad about skipping a day in winter atla femslash week so i hope this made sense</p><p>i actually don't know if fire nationals in atla are still stingy about their hair but i read the kyoshi novels this weekend and their attitude towards hair is actually something that can be so personal.......</p><p>also, zuko must've had a heart attack when jin suddenly ruffled his hair on their little date. disasters, all of them...</p><p>hmu on tumblr: <a href="https://sirensokka.tumblr.com">sirensokka</a> :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>